


In the Past

by allysonandrews1982 (FonzFan82)



Series: Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Family, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-01-16 17:39:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 14,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FonzFan82/pseuds/allysonandrews1982
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alan and Scott go to Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation for some help about their father's past. There are a lot of questions the two boys couldn't answer for the gang. Would the gang be able to find out the information on Roger's past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Early one Tuesday morning in August, Alan and Scott Presley were taking a short vacation in Los Angeles. Alan couldn’t take much time off since school would be picking up again in the next few weeks. He taught English for high school students. Even his students’ parents seemed to like him as well. He and his younger brother sat in a law firm with six strangers but none of them looked at all familiar to him and Scott.

He and Scott looked around. The six friends looked to be in their 30s and 40s, but he and Scott did notice the leader, who was the owner of the law firm, Kylie Jones – Blake looked to be the oldest since she was nearing sixty. As a pretty blonde, Kylie looked active for this type of business, Scott thought to himself. Even Alan noticed.

Both the boys watched as Kylie put her fountain pen back in its proper place, which was a glass you could drink out of. It was starting to age, but it was still in good condition. Both brothers did see that the glass was starting to yellow. It looked once before its age, was a light purple glass with a rainbow and flowers.

He and Scott watched her boyfriend, Danny Blake play around with her hair. Kylie also had a calendar on the desk. The group looked at Alan and Scott for a bit longer without saying anything. Finally Gloria decided to ask a question. Gloria sure looked familiar to the two brothers. She looked just like her father, Shaggy Rogers. No wonder she looked familiar, he and Scott thought.

“I don’t understand why you came to us. Why are we involved?” Gloria questioned.

“We came here because we wanted to look in our father’s past. We really don’t remember him very well. We would want to know about what happened in his past. We heard it was pretty dark,” Scott answered.

When Scott talked, Kylie and her friends had a quiet and similar question.

‘Doesn’t Alan look familiar?’ 

“If this had something to do with your father, why did you come to us?” Ryan asked.

Before any brother could answer, he and Alan thought Jessica Anderson also looked familiar since she wrote her own column for the newspaper.

“We tried doing this ourselves, but we didn’t get too far,” Alan answered.

“How far were you able to search in the dark past?” Gloria asked.

“Not too far. As you can see, our birth father used to coach for the Green Bay Packers. We were told that he had some health problems,” Alan continued.

“So you came to us to do this job for you?” Frank asked.

“That’s right. We are both adopted. Our adoptive parents really don’t give us much detail to talka bout our birth family. That is something we can’t answer,” Scott agreed.

“Oh,” Jessica said.

Alan and Scott nodded to let the gang know they were listening.

“This is all the information we have for now,” Scott told the gang.

Both he and Alan got up to leave. It was nearing lunchtime and the six friends stood up as well. They did hear Alan and Scott’s stomaches growl as they left the office.

“I still don’t get it,” Ryan said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t get what?” his sister asked.

“Why two young men came to a law firm and tell Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation about a family matter with very little detail.”

“I understand, Ryan, but we’ll be able to figure this out,” Danny said as he patted his friend on the shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night, Alan and Scott talked about the 2nd Generation of Mystery Inc.

"Do you think we came to the wrong detectives to look into a family past?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. I never really thought about it, even if we did have a mother and father we never remembered. All George and Mary said not much about Mom and Dad. Maybe this was probably why we went to these detectives. Interesting they're really not the same age, especially that blonde one."

"She looked like she should leave the group anytime soon. You know the retirement age now is sixty – something."

"Right. I wonder what would happen when that does happen."

"And she really doesn't have that big of a firm," Scott pointed out.

"You're right. She did have a successful career," Alan agreed.

"Any other thoughts what we should tell these nosy detectives about Dad?" Scott asked.

"Remember George and Mary said Dad was really sick when he died from all those problems?"

"Yeah," Scott said.

"Maybe we should bring that up," Alan remarked.

"Right. Maybe that'll give them something to work on."

"I happen to think that Mary and George might have Dad's medical history somewhere around the house."

"You think so? It's worth a try," Scott agreed.

Mary and George Tompson, their adoptive parents, were out in Hawaii for their forty – fifth anniversary and wouldn't be back in a month, so this would give the boys a chance to find the medical files from their birth father. Scott and Alan had never really figured out why George and Mary never really talked about what went on with their mother and father from the past. Alan and Scott had no clue if their past was dark or not. This would be one big job for Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation for sure.

This would be something he and Alan would discuss on their next visit with this detective group.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Jessica was having dinner at Ryan’s house with him, Keith and Linda. Ever since Ryan’s wife, Lauren died from diabetes, he had a hard time raising his kids on his own. He is trying his best to be both mother and father to both children but that is never really easy.

Whenever he and Jessica would go out on a new mystery with the gang, Ryan always had to give the kids to their mother and stepfather while they were away. Now that Velma and Potsie were both dead, Ryan had to leave Keith and Linda with other friends. He thought this was depressing because when he was out on a murder case, he would never get to see the kids until he came back. Their last case, which was about Danny’s mother, he didn’t have to travel anywhere. This was a case that happened at home, so he was happy he didn’t have to make arrangements for Linda and Keith. They were always in school when he and his friends would be on travel.

Jessica volunteered to make dinner that night and Ryan accepted. He wasn’t in any mood to do any cooking and has been that way ever since Lauren died.

“So what do you think of this mystery we just received?” Ryan asked.

“Interesting. I wonder where this mystery will be going.”

“I agree, but some of the story doesn’t make sense to me at all.”

“Like what?” Jessica asked.

“For example, why would two young men want to come to Kylie’s office and ask Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation to look into a family matter that involved the past?”

“Good question, but the more we dig in, the more we’ll see why they hired us. That oldest one looks familiar.”

“Do you think they thought the same about us?” Ryan asked, agreeing with Jessica that Alan did look familiar.

“I’m not sure. I really never thought of it but my guess might be a yes.”

“What would make you think Alan Presley looked familiar?” Danny askeed.

“I’m not sure, but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet,” Kylie said.


	4. Chapter 4

Later that week, Alan and Scott were back home. They did give Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation their telephone number back here in Milwaukee. But the one thing they did not tell Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation is they were originally from Memphis, but right now there was no need to give out a lot of information to six strangers they recently met but they would let them figure it out for themselves.

Ever since they came back, Alan got into another fanfiction story. It’d been a while since he last did one, but with school coming around the corner, he didn’t have much time to think about starting another one. He never mentioned this to any of his other friends about his writing about existed characters. If he did, they would probably laugh about it.

He and Scott also gave Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation their e – mail address as well. The group didn’t mind but they did e – mail time to time but not like they did when they weren’t on a case. They mostly did e – mail when they were working on something.

Alan and Scott really never were big fans of Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation, but they have heard so much about their solving murders, but as far as Scott and Alan knew, Coach Presley was not involved in any murder so they have no idea how to answer questions when the group talks to them again. They never saw a picture of Coach Presley either. Somehow Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation would have to find that kind of information out for themselves without the information from Alan and Scott.

The two brothers talked for a while. It was now dinnertime and Scott made supper as he usually did.

“What do you think of Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation so far?” Alan asked.

“I think they’re all right for starters, but I’d still like to think about them more once they get deeper into the case,” Scott remarked.

Alan helped Scott with supper. Alan set two plates, sets of forks, and spoons. They usually had placemats on the table every night. The placemats were nothing fancy. The placemats were also ready to be pitched since they were starting to age. They were both identical: light – blue with light yellow with stripes and trees for the background.

Dinner didn’t take too long so Scott made stir fry with salad with ranch dressing, two glasses of milk, apples, bananas, and squash. They knew for sure that squash was supposed to be healthy for you, but it wasn’t often they had it since it was a bit expensive out here where the brothers lived so the didn’t buy it often. They knew gardening was a hobby, but once food got expensive at the grocery store, they would make their own in their garden. They weren’t big on gardening like some people were. 

“Let’s just see how well this detective group can do on Dad’s case. Or should I say Coach Presley instead?” Alan said.

“I think Coach sounds more proper since we never really remember him as Dad,” Scott agreed to Alan’s question.

“I wonder if our names will be in the newspaper once this is solved,” Alan said.

“Who knows? That’s something I’d like to see for myself.”


	5. Chapter 5

A day or two later, Kylie and the gang gathered for lunch. The gang saw Gloria grab a few pieces of paper she’d bought along for lunch. She sure did do a lot of work, the five friends thought to themselves. Jessica locked the car. Today, the Mystery Machine had the same colors as the original and it had more features. The gang walked into Dairy Queen.

“What are the papers for?” Jessica asked once everyone waited for their turn to order.

“I’ll explain once we sit down,” Gloria answered.

“Good idea,” Ryan agreed.

Kylie offered to pay this time. There was no arguments from the gang. They usually took turns paying but today was Kylie’s turn.

After the gang found a spot to sit, they began to eat. Everyone had the same meal: cheeseburgers with ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. The shakes were in different flavors so everyone didn’t order the same flavor.

“Now everyone’s seated, you can now tell us why you bought those papers,” Frank told his sister,

“I did some research on this mystery. Alan and Scott Presley, the young men related to the most famous name in the music indursty,” Gloria began.

“And who could that be?” Danny asked.

He had often pictured himself being related to Elton John, his all – time favorite, but of course it was just a fantasy.

“Get this – Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘N Roll,” Gloria answered.

“No wonder I didn’t put my finger on it right away,” Kylie said.

“And Sis beat you to it,” Frank told her.

“True,” Kylie agreed.

“There’s more,” Gloria said.

“No wonder you’ve done most of the work. Now we just got started on the case, you’re already ahead of everyone else,” Ryan said.

“You’re supposed to do that,” Gloria told Ryan.

“No wonder you’re the brains of the 2nd Generation,” Jessica said as she drank some of her strawberry milkshake.

When finished, Jessica wiped a napkin over her face. Danny took a bite of his cheeseburger.

“Also get this, gang. It’s about their birth father. This is really interesting,” Gloria said to her friends.

“What did you add to your research?” Kylie asked, still interested in this mystery.

“I found out that Alan and Scott are related to a football coach. He coached for Green Bay Packers.”

She handed Jessica Coach Presley’s picture.

“He doesn’t look familiar to me,” she said, passing the printed photo of Roger Presley.

The rest of the gang agreed with Jessica. It was a colored photo, but not black and white.

The photo Gloria passed around was taken less than twenty years ago. In the picture, Roger had a whistle in his mouth as if to call time – out for his team.

“i guess we’ll have to talk with the Green Bay Packers about Coach Presley,” Kylie told her friends.

“We know you were going to say that,” Frank told her.

The gang could tell being leader was in Kylie’s genes. She had done a good job at this, the five friends agreed. Gloria also passed other pictures she’d printed out of Coach Presley.

“Why didn’t Scott and Alan give us this kind of detail?” Kylie asked.

“That we’ll have to find out,” Gloria told her.

“Should we give them a call or e – mail and tell them what we found out?” Danny asked.

“I think calling would be a good idea for now,” Gloria answered.

“Who knows how often they would answer e – mails,” Jessica said.

“Good point,” Ryan agreed.

They watched as Gloria grabbed out her cell phone and punch in a number. The gang thought that since school hadn’t started yet, Alan should be home. The phone rang a few times.

“Hello?” they heard Scott’s voice say on the other end of the line.

“Hi, Scott. This is Gloria Rogers.”

“Hi, Gloria.”


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, the gang made a telephone call to Wisconsin to the Green Bay Packers' coach to see if he had some information to share with them. Jack Higgins, who was the coach, returned their telephone call within a few hours since he had plans to take care of.

"I got a message from a Gloria Rogers confirming a former coach of ours. Is there anything I can to help?"

The gang had Jack on speaker so he could answer their questions about Roger.

"Yes, there is, Coach Higgins. We're looking into Coach Presley's past. Is there anything you could tell us about Coach Presley?" Kylie asked.

"Sorry, Ms. Jones – Blake, I happen to be the Packers' owner."

"Sorry. My bad," Kylie said.

"You did mention you were Mystery Inc. I know you don't sound like Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy to me. Ms. Anderson, I enjoy your articles."

"Thank you," Jessica returned.

"You're welcome."

"I know we must've had you confused, Mr. Higgins," Danny said apologetically.

"I guess you probably did," Jack agreed.

"Up to this point, Mr. Higgins, we took over the business since Fred, Shaggy, Daphne, and Velma are no longer living. We happen to be Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation," Ryan told him.

"Sorry if I made a mistake."

"That happens, Mr. Higgins," Jessica said.

"You can just call me Jack, please."

"Very well," Kylie replied.

"So you must be Fred Jones's daughter. Am I right?"

"Yes, Jack. Danny is Daphne Blake's son, Gloria and Frank are Shaggy's, and Jessica and Ryan are Velma's."

"Thank you for straightening me out on who is who."

"This doesn't happen much when people get confused with the two generations of Mystery Inc.," Danny said.

Jack didn't say anything.

After a moment of silence, Jack said, "I'll try to do my best to answer your questions."

"We got this job from Coach Presley's sons, Alan and Scott. They were interested in knowing more about Coach Presley, but they gave very little detail," Frank began.

"Now I could see why you wanted to speak with me."

"That's right. Mr. Higgins, why don't you tell us everything you know about Coach Presley," Ryan said.

"Well, Coach Presley showed an interest in the NFL. His dream was to have a job involving NFL. He was young when he joined us. Maybe in his twenties or thirties, but he left us when he reached the age of sixty – eight."

"Did Coach Presley get involved coaching any of the other teams before he came to Wisconsin?" Kylie asked.

"I wouldn't think so. Our first coach retired, so this is where Presley came on the scene."

"Did you know anything about Coach Presley before he got the job?" Jessica asked.

"To answer your question, I actually got the chance to know him once he began his first game. He actually succeeded when the game was over. We decided to give him a trial run to see if he could do this yearly."

"Did you learn anything about his personal background once he started?" Danny asked.

"I did, but he shared some of it. His parents were Ariel and Michael Presley. Both parents also had succeeded careers and made tons of money, but both didn't care if they were rich and famous, but they seemed comfortable with the money they had a while before raising three children."

"We understand Presley had health problems," Gloria spoke up.

"Right. He was pretty sick, but I did feel sorry for his parents. They had to spend lots of their money on doctor visits and medications."

"Were the hospital visits and medication expensive?" Kylie asked.

"You bet it was."

"While on the road going city to city every football season when his health started getting serious, were his hospital visits expensive as well?" Danny asked.

"Yes, Mr. Blake. He would go on the road with us without feeling any symptoms, but there were times on his last years with us, he was so ill he had to stay behind at home since he had hardly any strength to stand on his feet several hours per game, so we gave another coach a trial basis as well, but on the recent coach's third year in the NFL also succeeded when he took Presley's place for three years when Presley was nearing the end of his life."

"Wow, no wonder he didn't have much of a happy life," Danny said.

He looked at his friends and he could tell they were all wondering the same thing.

"You got that right," Jack said.

"When Alan and Scott left to adoptive parents, did you ever meet Coach Presley's other family members?" Jessica asked.

"Not really. I met his sons' other family members."

"How well did you know Presley's family?" Frank asked.

He wasn't sure if they picked up any clues during this conversation, but like his other friends, he thought this case would be interesting to solve.

"Are there any other questions you'd like to ask me?" Jack asked.

"That's all for now. Do you think there will be any chance we could talk to the team?" Gloria asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'll ask if they would be interested in going back to the past."

"Thank you for taking some time to answer our questions," Ryan said politely.

"You're welcome, Mr. Anderson. It was a pleasure to meet you all. You're welcome to call back if there are anymore questions."

"We plan to do that," Danny said.

When he said that, Jack had already disconnected.


	7. Chapter 7

Gloria was the first to speak up. The six friends had found their telephone conversation with Jack Higgins very interesting and informative.

"Any ideas what we should do now after listening to all of the things Mr. Higgins just told us about?" Gloria asked.

"I think that would be a bit more helpful," Kylie agreed.

"Do we split up once again and see what else we can find?" Jessica asked.

"Another good suggestion, Jess," Frank told her.

"That's what I thought. Maybe we can get more research done," Danny spoke up.

"Do we split up by family again as usual?" Ryan asked.

"I'd vote for that," Gloria replied.

"That's what I kinda figured," Frank told her.

Since neither Danny or Kylie had family to pair up to search for clues, they usually stuck together. If Andy, who used to be Kylie's younger brother, was still alive today, he would go and search for clues with her and Danny. Unlike the rest of the gang, Danny had always been an only child.

So the six friends separated.

Before they did that, Ryan said, "Let's text and we can tell what clues we found or wait until we're ready to meet up again."

"Good idea, Ryan," Kylie agreed as all six friends went their own ways.

As everyone had left, Jessica and Ryan decided to take the Mystery Machine and see if Roger's doctor was available to speak with them.

"Sis, why don't we go call the hospital first before we barge in without barging in?" Ryan asked.

"I already thought about that," Jessica answered as Ryan watched as he grabbed out her bookbag to get her cell phone out. Jessica's bag was new. She'd paid it at JCPenney for thirty – seven dollars and fifty – four cents. It was big enough to hold a few items: cell phone, cosmetics, wallet, glasses, etc. It also had a zipper. This bag was a mix of orange, royal blue and light – yellow. She'd only had it for almost three months even he seemed to like the purse as well.

Ryan watched as Jessica punched in Barry King's office number at the hospital. His speciality as a medical doctor was for allergies. He knew some about asthma, but he wasn't interested in both allergies and asthma. Jessica did get some luck from the receptionist. The receptionist did sound a little busy, but was able to spare a little time for Jessica.

Ryan watched as his sister put her phone back in her purse. The purse was a mix of stripes and polka dots. The purse had her intial name, which was J.

"What did Coach Presley's doctor say?" Ryan asked her.

"The receptionist said they could squeeze us in first thing tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Maybe the others would be interested in tagging along," he suggested.

"I think so, too."

"Want me to send out a text to the others?" he asked.

"Go ahead," she said, putting her purse over her shoulder as she usually did.

She watched as her brother send a message. She saw Frank's reply: 'That's okay. We will see you and Jess shortly.'

"I guess we stay put here until everyone comes over," he told Jessica.

"Okay with me."

Several minutes later, neither sister or brother said a word. He was looking all over the parking lot, both right and left. He still wasn't paying any attention when Danny, Kylie, Frank and Gloria headed their way. While he and Jessica had waited fro their friends, she had her iPod. She was listening to Carrie Underwood and Brooks and Dunn.

"Our split up didn't last long enough to find clues," Kylie complained.

When their parents were alive, her father was a good sport about not complaining about clues.

"Why did we split up for a few minues for?" Frank asked.

"Jess and I found a bit of information about Coach Presley," Ryan returned.

"Oh. What did you find that included everybody?" Danny asked, playing with Kylie's long blonde hair.

Jessica spoke up.

"Well, I called Coach Presley's doctor. His receptionist told me that Dr. King would not be available for us until first thing tomorrow morning."

"Speaking to a former coach's doctor is always a good idea," Kylie said as she shoved Danny's hand away from her face.

He stopped toying with Kylie's hair when she told him to stop doing so.

"You were ahead of me on this one, Jess," Gloria told her.

Jessica didn't reply.


	8. Chapter 8

Just then, Kylie remembered something.

“What’s wrong?” Gloria asked her.

“I just realized we haven’t yet shared our newest mystery to our facebook page. I know it’s been a while since we last updated.”

“You’re right, Kylie. We’ll have to come up with something for the fans all right,” Frank agreed.

The six friends sat on their legs and watched as Gloria typed up facebook on her laptop and sign in.

Their facebook page had over 5000,324 likes so they were getting popular but not yet as popular as their parents.

Kylie watched as Gloria typed up:

‘This mystery we are in progress of is about Coach Presley, former Green Bay Packers coach in the NFL. It is quite interesting as well, but there is something creepy about Coach Presley’s past we need to work on solving. Any ideas on his past or anything, leave a comment and we hope it will be helpful to this mystery.’

That’s when she hit POST. 

“Let’s see what happens with this update,” Danny remarked as he watched Jessica brush her hair out of her face.

“Now are you satisfied, Kylie?” Frank asked.

“Yes, I am. I just don’t like leaving things hanging for the fans,” Kylie answered.

“I agree,” Ryan said.

After hitting the post button, the gang watched as Gloria signed off.

“This mystery sure is getting interesting by the minute. Should we get hold of the children of Coach Presley’s and see if they’d had any luck?” Frank asked.

“I think that might be a good idea, but they said they didn’t get very far when working on this mystery,” Ryan answered, repeating Alan and Scott’s very words.

“They did say that, but why don’t we wait to talk to them again until our visit at the hospital is finished?” Jessica asked.

“Makes sense to me. At least we can tell them something about what we learned at the hospital,” Danny agreed.

“Got a point there,” Kylie said.

The next day, the gang were at Dr. King’s office.

“So you say you’re here to look into Coach Presley’s medical history. Am I right?” Dr. King asked.

“Yes, Dr. I’m not sure if you know this or not, but we’re helping Coach Presley’s children into some of this since they really don’t know anything about Coach Presley’s medical history,” Ryan said.

“I forgot he had children. How are the children?” Dr. King asked.

“They’re doing fine. Alan is a high school English teacher now and his younger brother Scott takes over his place when he isn’t there,” Kylie answered.

“So what do you want to know about Coach Presley’s past? This is usually confidential between the patient and the doctor,” Dr. King said.

“True, but his children are curious on what issues he had since they’ve been told he was so sick with multiple health problems,” Danny told the doctor.

“I guess I wasn’t paying much attention at all back then that his children were around. They were young children at the time, but I was always on call when something came up for Coach Presley. I guess Coach and I were too busy enough to pay attention to the boys. I am the doctor and he was the patient so Coach Presley kept me busy with prescribing stuff and all that,” Dr. King replied.

“So are you going to let us look into Coach Presley’s file?” Jessica asked.

“Of course not. Like I just said, it’s confidential. If I were you, I’d forget about it.”

He stood up and did a few stretches and groans and then opened the door for the gang.

After the gang walked out of the office, he slammed the door in their face.

“Whatever you do, don’t come back here to bug me about this again. If you do, I’ll call the police.”

After that, there was nothing else from Dr. King. The gang stood behind the closed door for several minutes before stepping out of the hospital. When they did walk back outside, the gang didn’t speak a word until they reached the Mystery Machine.

“Well, what did you think of this appointment?” Frank asked.

“Not much. At least he was nice enough in the beginning to let us ask questions, then in the end he was acting mean,” Kylie said.

“She’s right. What he said about the patient and doctor being confidential about the patient’s medical history, it is illegal if other people like us try to look in it for ourselves to what really was in Coach Presley’s past,” Gloria said.


	9. Chapter 9

In the upcoming weekend, Scott and Alan were both available to get updated from the gang to see if they had picked up anything new of interest.

“Did you find anything we haven’t found out about Dad?” 

Alan was the one who spoke up first.

“We did get a chance to speak with your father’s doctor,” Gloria began.

“You should know by now it is confidential between the patient and doctor,” Scott reminded them.

“True. Have you two ever learned about your medical history?” Frank asked.

Both brothers shook their heads. That was the answer to Frank’s question.

“We never learned much of anything, Frank. All we were told from Mary and George that all they knew was having poor health, but they never mentioned to us what the poor health was,” Alan told the gang.

“Why would they want to keep it without you two knowing what your family medical history is so you would be aware of it when you get older?” Kylie asked.

What she had just asked didn’t make any sense to her at all.

“Good point. We did try to look it up ourselves, but we weren’t sure where to begin since the medical files seem to be well – hidden so we couldn’t find out anything what went wrong in our father’s past that made it a bit dark for Alan and I to find out about it,” Scott told them.

“They are pretty strict as well,” Alan said to the gang.

“Mind if we go ahead and talk with them about this silence?” Ryan asked.

This was the very first time he’d spoken up since their arrival.

“Don’t think so. The might give you the same answer,” Alan told them.

Scott nodded.

“Oh. So that means they don’t want a group of detectives snooping around and ask questions. How did they know that Coach Presley had this kind of dark past enough to tell you both about what went wrong with your father’s health issues so you couldn’t find out any detalis on?” Ryan asked.

“Who knows? They know by now we should be able to know aobut this since he was our birth father,” Alan answered.

“Well, that does make some sense. Your foster parents sure enjoy hiding this information and probably are a bit young to know about Coach Presley’s past,” Frank guessed.

“We are old enough to have this type of info instead of being able to search for the files,” Alan added, “but we are young adults now, and they already know that.”

“True,” Gloria agreed.

Scott got up from the sofa and did a few stretches.

“Would anyone like something to snack on or anything to drink?” he asked.

He was getting a bit hungry.

“Water would be good,” Danny answered as his friends agreed.

After they watched Scott disappear into the kitchen, Gloria asked, “What happened to your mother? Is she still alive or did she pass away as well?”

“That’s another topic they didn’t give us enough details on,” Alan began.

“What was that they didn’t share much?” Kylie asked.

“Good question, Kylie. All George and Mary have told us Mom wasn’t a very good mother to us and she was put into prison for life. Mary did tell us Mom was using Dad’s medications on us and we died. But look where we are now,” Alan told the gang.

“Somehow you both survived without your mother finding out,” Kylie replied.

“True,” Alan agreed.

The gang, Scott and Alan talked about different topics when Scott came back into the living room. After everyone had finished, the gang rose and thanked Alan and Scott for their hospitality and drove the Mystery Machine out of the neighborhood.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day while Alan was going to prepare for the first day of school, Scott thought about what the gang had said about talking with their dad’s doctor about the medical history. Since the gang were strangers to their father’s doctor, Scott thought it made sense to ask the doctor himself since he and Alan were their birth children.

Scott thought he’d give it a shot, but this was something he and Alan never got information on was their medical history, but he guessed George and Mary didn’t want them to find out on the past medical history, but this was probably one reason he and Alan talked to 2nd Generation. He hoped they would find something, but it sounded like to him and Alan this might be a case that would be hard to solve.

Alan was not at the high school when Scott wanted to talk to him about his latest theory on Roger’s past. Alan was in the office, trying to decide what to do for the first lesson of the day for his English class. Before entering, Scott knocked on the open door. Alan heard his brother and turned around to face him.

“Hi,” Alan told him.

“Hi to you too,” Scott said as he walked into the office.

The office was another place where Alan would sit down and write his fanfictions. Alan really didn’t like writing in bed at night since he would be pretty tired when the end of the day neared and he usually liked reading more than writing in bed. Sometimes he usually made up his assignments for the class in bed but that didn’t happen too often.

“What is it you want to see me for, Scott?” Alan asked as he got up from the desk chair and gave a few stretches.

“I’ve been thinking about Dad’s past,” Scott began.

“And?” Alan asked with interest.

That was just one of the things Mary and George didn’t bother sharing with the two brothers was the medical history.

“I was thinking we could probably try talking to Dad’s former doctor ourselves and see what he could tell us about the medical history.”

“I never thought about that one. I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“When should I call in and see when the doctor would be available?” Scott asked.

“You can do that anytime today. I need to come up with assignments for the class since school is starting in a couple of days.”

“That’s right. I almost forgot about that,” Scott said to Alan.

“So you do know by now who’s in your class?” Scott asked.

“Of course.”

Alan did some crunches while talking with his younger brother.

While doing that, Alan said, “I wonder why Mary and George would never share with us on Dad’s past history.”

“Who knows? Maybe they don’t know what happened either,” Scott pointed out.

“I never thought of that either,” Alan agreed.

“I guess I’ll go call the doctor now and see when we could go and visit,” Scott told his older brother.

“Okay. Remember Dad’s past was allergies and asthma from the the reports.”

“Oh. You have a point there,” Scott said as he left for the telephone in the kitchen.

Alan listened as his younger brother called their dad’s doctor’s office and ask for the doctor himself. Alan knew this was a fact that it was confidential between the doctor and his patients on this sort of thing, but since he and Scott were family, they had a right to know this sort of information and they wouldn’t know what to do to prepare if either of them got one or the other but that’s probably why they thought of calling Roger’s doctor to collect the information.

He listened while Scott put the phone back the receiver. Alan really didn’t get to hear much of his brother’s telephone conversation. He watched as Scott entered the office a second time around.

“Any luck?” Alan asked him.

“The receptionist said she would set up something with us in the next week or so. They’re pretty booked this week,” Scott told him.

“Okay. I’m in school by then, but I’m sure you could handle this one yourself.”

“Yes, I can, Alan. I know we’ve only got one car, but I still wouldn’t mind taking the bus as usual.”

“You’re used to it by now, Scott. Don’t forget we made an agreement about using the car.”

“Right. I guess I can take the car next week when I visit Dad’s former doctor?” Scott asked.

“I think it’s the usual routine – bus,” Alan answered.

“That’s what I kinda figured,” Scott said, which didn’t surprise him at all very much.

He knew this was no crossing fingers, but he and Alan wanted to have some info on their father. They didn’t learn much from their adoptive parents, but when they would ask something, George and Mary would turn their questions down. Was there something that George and Mary knew about Roger’s past that they didn’t want to share with him and Alan? Scott thought.

“What are you thinking?” Alan asked.

He could tell Scott was thinking about this conversation.

“That we could try talking George and Mary about giving us more details on Dad’s past instead of hiding it from us. We’re Dad’s children and we have a right to know what went on in the past,” Scott told him.

“Good point. I’m sure they’ll still have their mouths shut about it.”

“Probably,” Scott agreed.

“I guess it probably won’t hurt for us to try talking to Mary and George again about it. Why would they want to hide some important information?” Alan asked.

He watched as Scott shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know how to answer that for himself either, but he and Alan had some questions they didn’t know how to answer when Mystery Inc. would come over again and ask them that type of question.

“I have a feeling these detectives might ask us those questions,” Scott told Alan.

“I agree,” Alan said.


	11. Chapter 11

The very next week on a Wednesday, Scott took the bus to town and went over to their father’s doctor’s office and talk with Dr. King. Today was Alan’s first day back from summer vacation, so there was no need in trying to ask if he could borrow the car. If he had the car, he’d have to go to town five nights a week to pick Alan up from the high school, so it made sense Alan take the car.

Scott went to the nearest bus stop by his apartment and waited for the bus. There were a few other people waiting for the ten o’clock bus besides himself. Scott exchanged good – morning to the other people who were waiting.

The bus showed up exactly around nine – forty – five so the driver was early, so that was good. Scott didn’t have to be at King’s office for another twenty minutes or so, but he usually liked leaving early to get to whatever he needed to go. Once he got on the bus and took a seat towards the back, he heard his cell phone go off.

“Hello?” Scott said on the third ring when the driver closed the doors and drove off.

“Hi, Scott.”

“Who is this?” Scott asked.

“Frank Rogers,” Frank answered.

“Oh, hello, Frank.”

“We still don’t seem to be getting anywhere on your dad’s past, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something,” Frank told him.

“I understand. Alan and I don’t remember our mother’s siblings or our dad’s sisters, but maybe we can try to find them while you’re searching in Dad’s past,” Scott said.

“Never thought of that one, but I guess I can share it with the gang. Thanks for bringing it up,” Frank said.

Frank could tell Scott was on the bus.

“You on the bus?”

“Yes,” Scott answered.

“I kinda figured.”

“How did you know?” Scott asked him.

“I thought I heard the doors open,” Frank said.

“Yes, it’s the bus all right. I’m on my way to our father’s doctor’s office and see if I can have better luck than you and your friends,” Scott told Frank.

“We never thought of that one either. When you pick up something, just call,” Frank replied.

“Plan to do so.”

“Good. How would we track your mother’s siblings and ask them this?” Frank asked.

“All we know is Mom is serving life sentence in prison, and Uncle Henry is retired and living with Uncle Arthur. I think they’re in Utah someplace. Salt Lake?” Scott said, not so sure about the location but all he knew it was Utah.

“Good suggestion. Any ideas where your father’s siblings live right now?” Frank asked.

Frank was sitting in his office at home, talking with Scott. His sister, Gloria, was out at the public library, seeing if she could pick up any new information about Roger. He wasn’t expecting her back anytime soon. 

“Are you with your friends right now?” Scott asked Frank.

“No. I’m at home, but Gloria is at the library, trying to pick up anymore information on Coach Presley.”

“Okay. We don’t know much about our parents,” Scott told him.

“We understand,” Frank told him.

“Do you remember your mother?” Scott asked him.

“Not really. My dad divorced her. Gloria and I really don’t know much on the subject.”

“So now you know how Alan and I feel,” Scott replied.

Frank said nothing.

“Well, if I remember from George and Mary, Aunt Patti and Uncle Eric are out in Denver, Colorado. Alan and I don’t keep in contact with them either.”

“That’s a good start. What was their last name?” Frank asked him.

“Wilson. Her last name was Presley, but she decided to change it from Presley to Wilson,” Scott answered.

“Oh. Any other living siblings on your dad’s side?” Frank asked.

“Yeah. Aunt Katherine, but she’s a registered nurse and single, so you can’t really talk with any boyfriends or whatever. Our Aunt Georgia is in California and is working as a travel agent.”

Frank jotted all the information on both sides of the family.

“Anything else I can answer?” Scott asked.

“Not at the minute, but maybe the telephone numbers and home adddress,” Frank said.

“Okay. Let Alan and I know when you find something,” Scott said.

“We plan to. I’ll pass this out to the gang and see if Gloria has found anything,” Frank said and the two hung up the phone.

After Frank was off with Scott, he called the gang and asked if they could get together for lunch that day. Everyone agreed.

“Want to eat in my office like we usually do?” Kylie asked.

“Sure. I’ll ask the gang and see what they think,” Frank told her.

“Okay. There’s no need to call me back.”

“All right,” Frank said as the two of them hung up.

Next he got on with Danny. Danny was out, so Frank left a message. Frank guessed Danny was in one of the apartments in his building, fixing stuff. He hoped Danny would get the message he left on the answering machine. If Danny didn’t call back, that was okay too. Frank wouldn’t be too surprised if Danny didn’t show up at lunch that day.

After he called the gang and told them about Kylie’s invitation for lunch, he got a text message from Gloria. It read: ‘Hi, Frank. I think I found some new stuff that the Presley brothers might or might not know. Ask if they would like to join us for lunch today.’ Frank replied back: ‘Well, Sis, I’ll see what I can do, but Alan is a teacher and just started school again but I think Scott might be open. I’ll call him.’ After he said that, he dialed Alan and Scott’s phone number. Scott wasn’t back yet, but Frank glanced at the clock: 10:17 AM. He should hear back from Scott after he left a message on the answering machine.

After Scott thanked Dr. King and waited for the bus to show up, Scott grabbed his cell phone and called Frank.

“Hi, Scott. I just left a message on your answering machine. There is an invitation for you from Kylie.”

“What’s the invitation?” Scott asked, already interested in what Kylie wanted.

“She invited you and Alan to lunch today. It’s in her office. We usually eat lunch there,” Frank explained.

“Okay. I’m sure you already know Alan can’t make it because of school starting again,” Scott reminded him.

“Yes, I do remember you saying that when you first came to Kylie’s office asking us for help. I did tell her Alan couldn’t make it but thought you could.”

“I can fill him in when we have supper tonight,” Scott replied.

“Sounds good,” Frank said, “so we’ll see you at lunch. Say noonish?”

“Okay. I’ll be there. Do we need to bring our own lunch?” Scott wanted to know.

“We usually do that, but if you prefer ordering yours, that’s okay too.”

“I guess I’ll do that. I’ll be at Ms. Jones – Blake’s office at noon,” Scott said and put his phone back in his shirt pocket where he usually kept it.

Scott didn’t want to bug Alan about the mystery since he was busy with his first day back at school, but he thought they would probably talk about the newest updates at supper tonight. Around eleven – forty – five, Scott got up to the bus stop a second time that day. He was going to meet the gang around twelve, so he decided to leave a little bit early.


	12. Chapter 12

Scott arrived right on time at Kylie’s office. He bought his own lunch from home so he wouldn’t bother the gang to pay for his lunch. Scott knocked on Kylie’s office door. He found Patsy at the reception desk.

“Hi,” Scott said.

Patsy looked up and found Scott.

“Hello, Mr. Presley. Ms. Jones – Blake is expecting you,” Patsy told him.

“Thanks. She in there?” Scott asked, pointing at the closed office door.

“Yes. Her friends are there as well, so you’re the last one to come here,” Patsy told him.

“Thanks.”

Patsy watched as he tapped on the door. Gloria was standing at the door.

“Hi, Scott. Come on in,” Gloria greeted him.

“Thanks, Gloria.”

Scott walked in after he finished greeting Gloria. Everybody else exchanged greetings with Scott. He took a chair across from Kylie at the desk. Jessica was sitting in the other chair. Scott didn’t mind sitting next to her.

“Why am I here?” Scott asked, beginning the conversation.

“What’s wrong with that? We normally don’t let our clients eat with us here at my office, but with you and Alan it’s okay with me,” Kylie told him.

“Okay. I’ll pass that out to him what you just said. I guess he’s happy to be back at school after the summer ended,” Scott told the gang.

They said nothing.

“We looked up more information,” Frank told Scott.

“You did? What did you find?” Scott asked with curiosity.

“Well,” Jessica began, “we did see that towards the end of your father’s career that he missed three games and couldn’t attend.”

“What does that got to do with his career?” Scott asked, still not getting it.

“We’re getting to that. We picked this one up. When your father missed three games and was unable to attend, there was another coach. His name is Taylor Fletcher,” Kylie went on.

“What does that have to do with the end of my father?” Scott asked as he shrugged his shoulders.

He still didn’t get why he was told this from the gang.

“We did get a chance to talk with Coach Fletcher,” Danny told him.

“And?” Scott asked.

He knew nothing about Fletcher or even heard of him. Guess this was another thing Mary and George didn’t bother pointing out to him and Alan. He wasn’t so sure why they wouldn’t share anything in the past about their father and mother. This he’d have to tell the gang about his mother’s side of the family and see what the gang could do about it.

“I haven’t gotten around yet to talk to my mother’s side of the family, but I don’t know how they would think of sharing this kind of information about our father,” Scott told them.

“Don’t worry about it, Scott. I’m sure we’ll get to that soon,” Gloria told him.

“Okay,” was all Scott could think of to say.

He didn’t know where in the United States his relatives on Stephanie’s side of the family lived, but all he knew was Utah and Denver so there wasn’t much information he could share with the gang, but he wasn’t so sure if the police would let the gang talk to his mother in prison or not.


	13. Chapter 13

So Scott got up and stretched. He’d been sitting at the computer for a while, checking his e – mail, facebook and Twitter accounts. Like most people, he never was on social media at all very much. Alan was like that, too. While checking facebook, he saw Carla Sanchez, who was a new friend he met a while back. He saw a message from her.

‘Hi, Scott. What are you up to recently?’ she said.

‘Hi, Carla. I’m just checking facebook. I know Alan and I don’t use it much, but I thought I’d kill some time before lunch.’

‘Good idea. Want to do lunch today?’

‘I can’t, Carla. I already made plans with Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation. Maybe next week sometime?’ 

‘Sounds great, Scott. See you then.’ 

And that was the end of their conversation.

Then he logged out and saw the clock was ticking by pretty quickly. He saw he would find more time to check Twitter when he came back from lunch and also check the traffic on Alan’s fanfiction page and post the last chapter of Alan’s story. Alan usually posted his stories by himself in the summer, but when school was in session, Scott would do it. When reviewers and fans would send him a private message. Alan didn’t seem to care for beta other members since he never had the right time to do so.

The clock now told Scott he had about ten minutes left to start thinking about catching the bus. So he did just that. Once he locked the door behind him, he paced as quickly as he could to catch the bus. And he made it just in time, too. His heart was beating pretty fast when he hopped on the bus.

Scott dind’t see anyone who would want to chat with him today, and he didn’t mind at all, either. He saw there were a few mothers with their babies. He never was good at judging people’s ages, and neither was Alan. The babies were burping and crying the entire bus ride. The bus he took that day was heading to Kylie’s office, so he was happy he caught the right bus.

A few blocks later, the bus was now stopping so Scott could walk to Kylie’s office. He knew for sure that she and the gang didn’t care if he was late or not. He made it about ten minutes late. He wasn’t on time very much, which was not all right with doctors and dentists. Unlike most lawyers, Kylie usually wasn’t that strict about clients arriving right on time.

He walked into Kylie’s office and ofund the entire gang except for Danny. He was busy with his tenants that day, so the gang could talk with Scott without him. Scott had been told before Danny was a landlord, so that was why Danny wasn’t seen that day. He greeted the gang and took a seat.

“Glad you could make it today, Scott,” Kylie said.

“I know. I ran as fast as I could to catch the bus before it left, so I made it on time,” Scott told them.

“What have you found out about Dad?” he asked.

“What we did was search around and see if we could talk to the other members in your family,” Ryan spoke up.

“Any luck on that?” Scott asked.

“Not very much. All I did was get some info on them from the computer,” Gloria answered.

“Oh. Alan and I were thinking we could give it another shot and see if we can find anything we missed before we asked you,” Scott told them.

“Good idea. If you don’t mind, can we have a conversation with George and Mary?” Frank asked.

“Good luck, but I think it’s okay,” he answered.

“Thank you, Scott. We’ll give it a shot. Could we have their phone number in order to talk to them?” Gloria asked.

“Sure.”

Scott took a piece of paper and pen Kylie passed to him and he scribbled their phone number. When he finished, he handed Kylie the pen and paper back.

“Thank you,” Kylie told him.

“So we tell your adoptive parents that you gave us the telephone number?” Jessica asked.

“I think that’s a good idea. If you don’t, they will get suspicious,” Scott said.

“I’ll bring this up to Alan tonight,” he added.

“Sounds good. You didn’t bring lunch over with you?” Frank asked.

“No. I might do Taco Bell,” Scott told them.

He stood up. The gang thanked him for taking some time to step by. That’s when Ryan opened the door and Scott was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

That evening at supper, Scott brought Alan up – to – date on the latest conversation he and Mystery Inc. had. 

“Okay. I think we should warn Mary and George ahead of time so they would be expecting a phone call from Mystery Inc. we can do this when we’re finished putting the dirty dishes away,” Alan told his younger brother.

“Good idea, Alan. Since you just got home from school, let me make that telephone call. You must be tired by now,” Scott told him.

“I think that’s a very good idea. I am tired, but I do still have a bit of energy left to help you do the dishes,” Alan said.

“Okay, but I can still do that by myself,” he told Alan.

The two brothers finished eating and a couple minutes later, Alan and Scott were drying the dishes and putting them away. Alan had always wanted to help Scott out with the dishes every evening since doing it with two people went a lot faster. None of them said a word while drying the dishes.

Scott watched as Alan put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. After Alan had slammed the door shut, Scott watched as Alan stretched his arms. While doing that, Alan gave a long yawn.

“I’m tired, Scott. Busy day with those kids today, so I’ll just say good – night right now so I’ll see you first thing in the morning,” Alan said to Scott.

“All right, bro. Sleep well,” Scott said.

He watched Alan head up the stairs to bed. After Alan had disappeared, Scott went straight to the telephone and called their adoptive parents, George and Mary back in Memphis.

“Hello?” Scott heard George say after the second ring.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Good evening, Scott. Is there anything your mother and I can do for you and Alan?” he asked.

“Well, Dad, actually there is something you both can do. Alan and I have hired a group of detectives to look into Coach Presley’s death,” Scott began.

He heard Mary’s voice just then.

“Who are you speaking to, George?” Scott heard Mary ask.

“Scott,” George answered.

“Your mother and I are both here so we can hear what you want to tell us,” George told him.

“Mom, I was just telling George that Alan and I hired a group of detectives. We want to know what happened to our birth father when he died,” Scott told her.

Neither of them replied, so tey let Scott continue.

“And I called ahead of time so you both will be expecting a telephone call from them. You two never tell Alan and I about our birth family and the past, so this is where these detectives come in.”

“Are they police detectives?” George asked.

He could tell Mary wasn’t liking this announcement either.

“Not those kind of detectives, George. They also aren’t private detectives. The leader of the group is a lawyer,” Scott told them.

“Tell us name of these people,” Mary said.

“Mystery Inc.,” he answered.

“Name sounds familiar,” George replied as he watched his wife nod in agreement.

“This time you two won’t be hearing from Fred and his friends,” Scott warned them.

“They are the next generation,” Scott finished.

“Thank you for telling us. We will be on the lookout,” Mary told Scott.

Then the three of them ended their conversation for the evening.


	15. Chapter 15

That evening at supper, Scott brought Alan up – to – date on the latest conversation he and Mystery Inc. had.

“Okay. I think we should warn Mary and George ahead of time so they would be expecting a phone call from Mystery Inc. We can do this when we’re finished putting the dirty dishes away,” Alan told his younger brother.

“Good idea, Alan. Since you just got home from school, let me make that telephone call. You must be tired by now,” Scott told him.

“I think that’s a very good idea. I am tired, but I do still have a bit of energy left to help you do the dishes,” Alan said.

“Okay, but I can still do that by myself,” he told Alan.

The two brothers finished eating and a couple minutes later, Alan and Scott were drying the dishes and putting them away. Alan had always wanted to help Scott out with the dishes every evening since doing it with two people went a lot faster. None of them said a word while drying the dishes.

Scott watched as Alan put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. After Alan had slammed the door shut, Scott watched as Alan stretched his arms. While doing that, Alan gave a yawn.

“I’m tired, Scott. Busy day with those kids today, so I’ll just say good – night right now so I’ll see you first thing in the morning,” Alan said to Scott.

“All right, bro. Sleep well,” Scott said.

He watched Alan head up the stairs to bed. After Alan had disappeared, Scott went straight to the telephone and called their adoptive parents, George and Mary back in Memphis.

“Hello?” Scott heard George say after the second ring.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Good evening, Scott. Is there anything your mother and I can do for you and Alan?” he asked.

“Well, Dad, actually there is something you both can do. Alan and I have hired a group of detectives to look into Coach Presley’s death,” Scott began.

He heard Mary’s voice just then.

“Who are you speaking to, George?” Scott heard Mary ask.

“Scott,” George answered.

“Your mother and I are both here so we can hear what you want to tell us,” George told him.

“Mom, I was just telling George that Alan and I hired a group of detectives. We want to know what happened to our birth father when he died,” Scott told her.

Neither of them replied, so they let Scott continue.

“And I called ahead of time so you both will be expecting a telephone call from them. You two never tell Alan and I about our birth family and the past, so this is where these detectives came in.”

“Are they police detectives?” George asked.

He could tell Mary wasn’t liking this announcement either.

“Not those kind of detectives, George. They also aren’t private detectives. The leader of the group is a lawyer,” Scott told them.

“Tell us the name of these people,” Mary said.

“Mystery Inc.,” he answered.

“Name sounds familiar,” George replied as he watched his wife nod in agreement.

“This time you two won’t be hearing from Fred and his friends,” Scott warned them.

“They are the next generation,” Scott finished.

“Thank you for telling us. We will be on the lookout,” Mary told Scott.

Then the three of them ended their conversation for the evening.


	16. Chapter 16

In the next day or two, Kylie and her friends got together with Alan and Scott. Alan had a day off from teaching that Tuesday, so he was happy to hang out with his younger brother and the next generation of Mystery Inc.

"Did you get the chance to speak with George and Mary?" Alan asked.

He'd been told from Scott about the phone call he made to warn the gang was calling.

"Yes, we did. This is why we wanted to share with you about the telephone call," Frank told the boys.

"Did you record the conversation when you called our parents?" Scott asked.

"We didn't think it was necessary to record it," Gloria said, "but we should've thought about that when we spoke with her."

"Maybe next time then," Alan said.

"So that means you know about Dad's past?" Scott asked the gang.

Both brothers watched as the gang nodded their heads.

"I think I came up with an idea or two on closing this case," Kylie told everyone who was in the room with her.

"Does that mean you heard enough of the story to come up with an idea?" Scott asked.

"You better believe it," Kylie told him.

"Tell us then," Ryan said.

He had his cell phone out so the gang could share this latest on the case on their facebook page. He thought it made sense to post the latest on the mystery once they finished their meeting with Alan and Scott.

"I was thinking we could try to locate Stephanie and see if her version of Mary's story matched," Kylie said.

"That's not a bad idea. I have one question, though," Alan said after Kylie finished her plan.

"What's that?" Gloria asked.

"How could you bring Mom into court if she's already in prison? That makes no sense to me," Alan said.

"We know, Alan, but you do have a point," Frank told Alan.

Alan said nothing.

"How are we going to trap her if we set up a court date with the jail?" Danny asked Kylie.

"I was thinking we could look up the name of the jail and set up a court date. And then the jury would be ready on the court date and hear both Stephanie and Mary's stories and find out who the liar is," Kylie said.

"It's worth a shot. Go for it," Jessica told her friend.

After she said that, she thought, 'I hope both of these stories will be interesting enough for my column. Let's see what happens then.'


	17. Chapter 17

In the next day or two, Kylie and her friends got together with Alan and Scott. Alan had a day off from teaching that Tuesday, so he was happy to hang out with his younger brother and the next generation of Mystery Inc.

"Did you get the chance to speak with George and Mary?" Alan asked.

He'd been told from Scott about the telephone call he made to warn the gang was calling.

"Yes, we did. This is why we wanted to share with you about the telephone call," Frank told the boys.

"Did you record the conversation when you called our parents?" Scott asked.

"We didn't think it was necessary to record it," Gloria said, "but we should've thought about that when we spoke with her."

"Maybe next time then," Alan said.

"So that means you know about Dad's past?" Scott asked the gang.

Both brother watched as the gang nodded their heads.

"I think I came up with an idea or two on closing this case," Kylie told everyone who in the room with her.

"Does that mean you heard enough of the story to come up with an idea?" Scott asked.

"You better believe it," Kylie told him.

"Tell us then," Ryan said.

He had his cell phone out so the gang could share this latest on the case on their facebook page, He thought it made sense to post the latest on the mystery once they finished their meeting with Alan and Scott.

"I was thinking we could try to locate Stephanie and see if her version of Mary's story matched," Kylie said.

"That's not a bad idea. I have one question, though," Alan said after Kylie finished her plan.

"What's that?" Gloria asked.

"How could you bring Mom into court if she's already in prison? That makes no sense to me," Alan said.

"We know, Alan, but you do have a point," Frank told Alan.

Alan said nothing.

"How are we going to trap her if we set up a court date with the jail?" Danny asked Kylie.

"I was thinking we could look up the name of the jail and set up a court date. And then the jury would be ready on the court date and hear both Stephanie and Mary's stories and find out who the liar is," Kylie said.

"It's worth a shot. Go for it," Jessica told her friend.

After she said that, she thought, 'I hope both of those stories will be interesting enough for my column. Let's see what will happen.'


	18. Chapter 18

Within the next couple of days or so, Frank looked up the telephone number to the jail where Stephanie was staying. Kylie hadn't found a chance to call the jail and set up a court date, so he beat her to it. He was no lawyer, but he needed something to keep busy for time being. He listened to a few more rings before he heard somebody pick up.

"Sheriff's office," Frank heard the sheriff say.

"Hello, Sheriff," he started.

"Who is this?" the sheriff asked.

"I am Frank Rogers from Mystery Inc. Do you still have a prisoner named Stephanie Presley?" he asked.

The sheriff didn't want to answer Frank, but he did anyway.

"I know I don't want to answer your question, Mr. Rogers, but I'll answer anyway."

"All right, Sheriff. Answer away," Frank told him.

While on the telephone with Frank, he could care less on that.

"Mrs. Presley is still alive and well, Mr. Rogers, but all of these years we've kept her, she would break down to tears every time somebody would walk by her cell."

Frank kept this information in his memory so he could tell the rest of the gang about this telephone conversation he had with the sheriff today. Of course the rest of his friends would find this information interesting like he did just now.

"Why do you bother asking? You're not family to Mrs. Presley, Mr. Rogers, so why do you bother calling me?"

Before Frank could answer, he heard the dial tone, so it made him think the sheriff wasn't interested into chatting with him. Frank sighed as he hung up the phone.

That's when he called Kylie at the office.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Kylie."

"Hi, Frank."

"I guess you have time to talk?"

"Of course I do. What's the idea of calling me?" Kylie asked with curiosity.

"I'd like to wait until everyone is available to hear what I want to share. Or would you rather I could post my calling you on facebook?"

"Whatever works. Does your post have anything to do with the mystery?"

"You better believe it, Kylie. I'll just go ahead and share so everybody would know the latest on this clue. We haven't shared anything new recently."

"You have a point on sharing. Let us know when you have it up."

"I plan to," he told her.

After that, he hung up before she could say another word.

When he left the conversation with Kylie, Frank went straight to facebook and signed in. When he logged in, he saw there were several messages in the message box and three updates on comments. Ever since their parents retired as the first generation of Mystery Inc., he and his friends changed the Mystery Inc. name to Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation.

He posted:

'Here's the latest on this mystery: we happen to think this mystery is almost closed up. We'll share again once we solve the mystery of Coach Presley, so stay tuned.' That's when he hit the POST button. That's when he signed off. Meanwhile, Kylie took her turn on calling the sheriff's office and see if they could set up a date and if they would cooperate with her on this case.

That's when she heard a voice over the telephone say, "Sheriff's office. How may we help you?"

"Yes, mu name is Kylie Jones – Blake from Mystery Inc. My friend Frank Rogers called recently. I'd like to see if we could set up a court date for Stephanie Webber."

The sheriff then sighed and said, "We already had a court date with her once before several years ago and our decision is still the same," he told her.

"Could we please try again? Maybe there could be something you missed."

Sheriff Jackson was quiet for a couple of minutes before answering.

Then he made up his mind.

"Well, Ms. Jones – Blake, I guess we can give it a shot. I would bet you that my department already has this case closed. This is a case in the past that doesn't need to be reopened for any new evidence."

"Well, Sheriff, I wouldn't be too sure about that. My friends and I always solve the mystery even if it goes way back in the day that people like you and your department leaving cases unsolved."

"You have a point there, Ms. Jones – Blake. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Danny was still at his apartment building, taking a break. He looked at the wall clock, which told him he had thirty more minutes before he went back to his tenants. He got up from the couch and stretched for a couple of times. He had the television on for distraction since it was pretty quiet without the telephone to keep him busy with complaints.

While he was up and stretching, Danny thought he could see if any new posts from their facebook page. He loggedin, and sure enough, there was something new. 'Who could have posted this latest information on facebook without my knowing about it before the update?' That's when he signed out without bothering to look at comments and messages. 'I guess I'll let somebody else do that,' he thought to himself.

Jessica tried starting a new article for her newest update on her column for the newspaper. She thought it was a good time to get ahead before this mystery was solved. She wondered if any of her friends found anything new on this mystery. If there was something new to this mystery, she would've known by now.

She didn't bother seeing for herself to check on facebook, but instead she grabbed her pen and notebook and started her column. She made the headlines' title, which was Long ongoing investigation. She began to write:

The murder of Roger Presley, coach for the Green Bay Packers is an ongoing case. The police haven't had any luck on finding any new evidence so the case would be at a close. When the police couldn't come up with new evidence, Mystery Inc. 2nd Generation took the case from Coach Presley's sons, Alan and Scott Presley.

Jessica put her pen down and read what she had just written. She'll finish her article after the court date was over and then turn the column to the newspaper.

In the meantime, Kylie scheduled for a court date. She set the date for the following week at nine in the morning. She sighed, thinking to herself, 'This case is interesting. I'd like to see how this mystery would look like once we solve this mystery.'

Kylie call the gang and mentioned that she'd already scheduled the court date.

"Let's hope this mystery would let us solve it. I don't blame the police department for leaving this mystery open," Frank said.

"We understand," Kylie said.

The court was now in session. Everyone who was there took their usual places.

"You may begin," the judge told Kylie.

The judge looked like it was time to retire. He'd been doing this sort of job in the past thirty – seven years. All of these court sessions and those who was there, liars, people who told the truth, and of course, family and friends. Kylie looked at the judge, whose name was Glenn Turner.

"Thank you," she said.

"I would like to call Stephanie Presley to the stand."

Stephanie looked old for her age, which was true. It had been several years she last took a bath and shower. She once used to have her father, whose name was Warren Webber, since they both looked alike. Alan and Scott where shocked to see how much their mother looked since they last saw her. Even Mary and George were there as well. Mary thought to herself she would be the one to tell the truth.

Stephanie looked at the judge when he asked her, "Do you promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," she said.

"You may take the stand."

"Mrs. Prelsey, could you tell us what happened before the police took you in?" Kylie asked.

"Of course I will," she said and began her story.

Flashback:

Alan and Scott watched Stephanie and Roger were in the kitchen, taking his medicine. Scott and Alan stayed out of sight so their parents wouldn't notice their children were watching. Once Stephanie had finished filling up his glass of water, she handed him the pills. He accepted and said, "Thank you."

Stephanie didn't pay much attention that she gave her husband an overdose of his allergy medicine. Once he swallowed the pills, he drank the entire glass of water. At the minute, he felt fine. Stephanie found the car keys, purse over her shoulder.

"Bye, Roger," Stephanie said.

"Where are you going?" he asked, seeing she had purse and keys.

"I have to do some stuff in town. I don't know when I'd be back."

Before he could reply, she was gone.

When Roger came home from the football game, he stayed with Stephanie and the boys. He wasn't very happy about Alan's being suspended from school for the rest of the year. The next day had arrived pretty fast. Roger was staying home with Alan and Scott came home from school that day, the boys were playing one of their favorite games, which was doctor. Roger was watching TV, but the boys play in the playroom. Scott had gotten hold of Roger's medications and inhaler when Roger wasn't looking. Then he heard giggling from the playroom.

He knew it was almost time to take his medications, nobody was there to supervise him, so he called Elvis and see if he could help him on taking the medications. Elvis said he would be there in a few minutes. Roger tried looking for the inhaler and medicine, but couldn't find them. He went into the playroom to see if the boys had seen them.

"Alan, Scott, have you seen my medications or my inhaler?" Roger asked.

"What's an inhaler?" Scott asked, not understanding what Roger meant.

Roger explained it to the boys. They still didn't understand. He found the medications and inhaler in front of the boys.

"You two better not take any of the medicines, or you'd be in trouble. The medicine isn't for you two at all," Roger said, taking the medications and inhaler away.

He asked the boys if they had taken any of the medications.

"Alan did. He swallowed every one of those," Scott said.

"That does it. You kids are in trouble for playing with these. I'm going to tell your mother about this when she gets home."

Then he heard a burp from Alan.

"What do you say?" Roger asked.

"Excuse me, Dad."

Roger saw that Kristin had just arrived.

"You two stay here. You don't touch these anymore. Get it?" Roger asked, showing them the medications and inhaler.

He closed the door of the playroom. Roger opened the door so Kristin could get in.

"Hi, Kristin. I have some troublemakers," Roger said.

"What happened?" Kristin asked.

"Before you showed up, the boys were playing in the playroom and somehow they got hold of these," Roger said, showing her the medications and inhaler.

End Flashback

"Where were you when Alan and Scott got hold of the inhaler and medications?" Kylie asked, looking straight in Stephanie's direction.

"I was downtown. I had to work that afternoon and meet a friend after that," Stephanie answered.

"And who told you about Scott and Alan reaching for Coach Presley's medications and inhaler?" the district attorney asked.

The judge looked at the district attorney, whose name was Dan Rhodes.

"It's not your turn yet, Mr. Rhodes," he said.

"Sorry," Dan said.

He looked in Kylie's direction.

"Sorry about that, Kylie," he apologized again.

"That's okay," she said.

"Let's continue," the judge replied.

"Please answer the question, Mrs. Prelsey," Dan said.

Stephanie thought to herself, 'I hope I win.'

"I don't remember exactly who told me about it," she lied.

She really knew who told her, but she was told to keep quiet so that person wouldn't get angry if he found out she blabbed the answer to any living person. She knew she had to spit it out, and that included her family.

Dan once again got up from his seat of the courtroom and said, "Objection!"

The judge said, "What are you trying to tell us, Mr. Rhodes?"

"Mrs. Presley lied," Dan said once again looked in Kylie's face.

Kylie then looked at the judge and said, "i would have to agree with Mr. Rhodes."

"Can I leave now?" Stephanie asked.

"For now. We'll need you again later," the judge said.

'Finally I can get away. I need to use the restroom,' she thought to herself.

That's when the court was dismissed for twenty – five minutes.

"Court adjourned. We will take a twenty – five minutes of recess," he said.

"Do you really think Mom lied about her last question?" Alan asked.

"Of course I do," Kylie told the two brothers.

"I don't want to find out who won the case once this is over," Scott told the gang.

"Understandable," Frank said, patting Scott on the shoulder.

"I'll share this on facebook, gang," Kylie said and got on the website on her phone.

The gang watched her sign in. This is what she posted:

'This mystery is halfway to being solved. We just finished part one of the court session. So far the lawyers (like myself) for example believe Stephanie Presley is not telling the truth.

That's when she hit the POST button. After that, she blogged off. Danny and the gang didn't get a closer look to see Frank's update.

"We didn't get to read Frank's post," Jessica said.

"Sorry about that, Jess. I'll be sure to let you all read his post when we go back to facebook," Kylie promised her friend.

"Okay," she said.

"Why didn't you tell us about the post you shared without us knowing about it?" Ryan asked.

Ryan didn't care much about his friends telling social media without him and his friends finding it before posting.

"You said it was okay to share it without the gang involved," Frank told Kylie.

She didn't answer.

"Frank, the post is already up, so please don't make a big deal out of it," Gloria told her brother.

He didn't answer. The twenty – five minutes were almost up. Mary and Stephanie were involved in a conversation.

"What do we say next?" Stephanie asked.

Mary didn't have any clue what to tell her. Twenty – five minutes were up and everyone took their seats.

The judge said, "We can continue this session."

Then he let Dan have his turn.

"Thank you," Dan said, and continued, "I'd like to call Mary Tompson to the stand."

Once Mary got up from her seat, she saw Stephanie look in her direction. Then the judge said, "Do you promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?"

"I do," Mary answered as she took the stand.

"Mrs. Tompson, would you like to tell us how you and your husband met the Presleys?" asked Dan.

"Be happy to," Mary said and began her story:

Flashback:

One rainy afternoon, Mary and George were in deep conversation. Mary had heard there were a few children looking for a new home.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" George asked.

"Of course I'm sure, George. I heard from one of the mothers asking me if we wouldn't mind taking two of her sons with us."

Alan and Scott had a chance to interrupt her story. Alan decided to speak first. Scott didn't seem to care either way.

"Yes, son?" the judge asked once everyone in the courtroom watched.

"Mary, we've asked you this several times in the past what happened and you kept ignoring it. Why do we have to wait until now to find out?" Alan asked.

"I thought if George and I kept this between the two of us and it wasn't important to share," Mary answered.

Then Dan ordered Alan and Scott to sit down again. So the two brothers obeyed.

"You may continue, Mrs. Tompson." He said.

Flashback continued:

"Who is this one mother you're talking about?" he asked.

"A woman by the name of Stephanie Presley," she answered.

"I know the name isn't familiar to us. What happened that we were asked to take her children in with us?"

Again George was curious.

"I heard she recently received a sentence in prison for life."

"I guess we could take them in."

Once again Alan and Scott stood up.

"Mary, could you-"

The judge interrupted Alan.

"Yes?"

"WE still want to know what you and your husband did for these young men?" the judge asked.

"Can my brother ask a quick question?" Scott asked.

"Go right ahead," he told Scott.

"Mary, could you tell us why you and George put us on a strict diet for a meal per day?" Scott asked.

As everyone in the courtroom listened to this question Scott just asked, the judge thought to himself, 'This kid sounds just like a lawyer.' And Mary decided to answer that question.

"Well," Mary began.

Stephanie thought had no idea what Scott had just asked, but she'll listen as usual.

"Well, what? From what we've just heard so far, I don't see how this involves our being adopted with one meal per day. And it makes no sense," Scott told her.

"May I say something?" Kylie asked.

"Go right ahead," the judge told her.

"Scott," Kylie said, looking at him.

"Yes?"

"You sound so much like a lawyer. I think you should go to law school."

Scott didn't answer. The judge looked at the wall clock.

"We have been in this courtroom long enough for today. We have heard two different stories, so this session lasted for a while. I think we all have heard enough from both Mrs. Presley and Mrs. Tompson. You both let us hear your stories on what happened. I would like to announce both of you as guilty. Court adjourned."

Kylie sighed, happy they had solved this mystery. 'And about time, too,' she thought to herself as everyone who was in the courtroom left.


End file.
